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Is the white coat ceremony a big deal ? Should I have my family fly LA to NYC for this ? Does everyone essentially have their family there?
I thought it was a big deal and told my entire family to come, only to find out that my school only allows 2.Is the white coat ceremony a big deal ? Should I have my family fly LA to NYC for this ? Does everyone essentially have their family there?
Is the white coat ceremony a big deal ? Should I have my family fly LA to NYC for this ? Does everyone essentially have their family there?
I wonder if some students just don't go to it, let alone forgo having family travel a large distance to attend it.
It was required at my school. If I could've ditched it, I would've, but my parents flew out from HI for it. Even one of the deans fell asleep on stage. It was so boring and a waste of time that I could've been working on getting my apartment set up.
The "tradition" wasn't even started until the 90s, I believe.
I went to mine, it was nice I guess, but there was no way the family was coming down to Houston from Dallas for that.
Wiki and it's references are not always correct. I had a White Coat ceremony and have the pics to prove it from more than a decade before what Wiki claims and I wasn't at Columbia.
The White Coat ceremony seems silly and pretentious to students but is important to family members.
Edit: I looked up the references Wiki uses and sure enough they claim vaguely the 1993 date. I'm wondering if we called it something else? I'll try to find out. But we definitely had a ceremony and I have the pics from long before that - it probably just wasn't "called" a white coat ceremony then.
Our school's was required. I wasn't particularly enthused about it, but the fam was of course. It wasn't terrible, short enough it wasn't painful, I didn't trip during the trek across the stage, and the champagne and cookies at the reception after made it worth it.
This is interesting. I'll have to ask some of the doctors I work with if they had a white coat ceremony-esque thing. I wonder if it's just been formalized and now is no longer "getting a white coat at a ceremony," but rather a "White Coat Ceremony." Did any other older doc's on here have a white coat ceremony prior to 1993?
The thing is its going to be really costly for them to come to nyc for it. The plane tickets are probably going to be $500 a pop, and since I will live in the dorms, they would have to get a hotel. It will at minimum cost them 2k for a ceremony. If its nothing that important, I can just tell them that, and save them all the trouble.
What's the dress code for these ceremonies?
The food was nice during our white coat ceremony but I'd rather have spent the time at the gym or something similar. There were no guests allowed to our ceremony, but seeing how much of a waste it was, I'm glad my parents didn't have to waste the drive over and sit there for 2 hours with nothing to do.
There was no champagne either, which angered me. Maybe that's why I didn't really care much about it.
What's the dress code for these ceremonies?
Don't expect too much, you will most likely be disappointed. The best part is the speech the dean gives, and well thats about it. They hand out a lot of scholarships. Not exciting because you should already know if you got one or not. Thats about it. Don't NOT go, but don't fly in your parents for this one special event that if they miss you'll hate them forever. Its seriously not a big deal.
Yeah, that would be sort of uncomfortable .Does anyone know if this is common practice?? I can see this potentially leading to a lot of animosity between certain types of students. IMO, if I had received some type of scholarship, I'd prefer others not to know.
my wife, a vet-student, had her WCC after the first semster of class...so some people had already been kicked out
I think the idea of the ceremony is cool, but I think it would be more better servered after your first year or at least semster
or after fourth year
Does anyone know if this is common practice?? I can see this potentially leading to a lot of animosity between certain types of students. IMO, if I had received some type of scholarship, I'd prefer others not to know.
The way I think about it, having the white coat ceremony and taking the Hipp. Oath officially for the first time is symbolically important. Particularly since we will actually be interacting with, examining, even treating real patients well before we graduate. Why wait till the end to take the oath? The ceremony can be boring at times for sure. But starting medical school is a really big deal. It not only represents a huge committment on our part, but acknowledges the great effort we have all put into get here. For many of us, we are truly realizing our dreams. And lets not forget how proud our family and friends are of us. It gives them the opportunity to get excited and share in a little part of the process as well. I am glad to have had it.
The way I think about it, having the white coat ceremony and taking the Hipp. Oath officially for the first time is symbolically important. Particularly since we will actually be interacting with, examining, even treating real patients well before we graduate. Why wait till the end to take the oath? The ceremony can be boring at times for sure. But starting medical school is a really big deal. It not only represents a huge committment on our part, but acknowledges the great effort we have all put into get here. For many of us, we are truly realizing our dreams. And lets not forget how proud our family and friends are of us. It gives them the opportunity to get excited and share in a little part of the process as well. I am glad to have had it.
i was so idealistic at the beginning of the year and felt that the white coat ceremony was some rite of passage or something equally ridiculous
in retrospect it was just another lecture that i should have skipped
To each his own, I suppose. Indeed, many of us may come to share your feelings, but it's how you feel on the day of the ceremony that counts, I guess.
i was so idealistic at the beginning of the year and felt that the white coat ceremony was some rite of passage or something equally ridiculous
in retrospect it was just another lecture that i should have skipped
High five, my friend...us cynics have to stick together. As said earlier though, I guess it depends greatly on the individual's viewpoint. Personally, getting into medical school is just another stepping stone towards my ultimate goal. Additionally, gaining acceptance does not mean you're going to become a physician (most likely, but it's not a sure thing by any means). Consequently, ol' Ded will bust out the champagne (well, more likely the fifth of Jack) and happy feelings when he lands his first job as an attending.
Hooray for remarkably well-adjusted SDN comments!But then again, your first job as an attending will likely just be the next step towards whatever other goals you have developed by then. I prefer to not trivialize the activities of the present. The future will always be the future, but you have today right here and now. I kinda feel like I owe it to myself to celebrate the accomplishments that I so looked forward to in my younger days. Just as in the future I will celebrate those things I look forward to today. Living one step at a time, and enjoying every step.
Wear what you wore for interviews, but without a suit coat, as the white coat takes its place. At our ceremony they took the photos, after we'd been garbed but were still on stage, that went on our ID badges and the school photo poster.